


Twinkie Quest

by TheFlailingGirl



Category: Zombieland (2009)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gore, Horror, M/M, Tragedy, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-23
Updated: 2013-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-21 02:19:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/894652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFlailingGirl/pseuds/TheFlailingGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will Tallahassee's need for Twinkies get the better of him or Columbus for that matter? Let's be honest, most likely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired to write this story after watching Columbus and Tallahassee’s relationship change and grow throughout the movie. Now, please don’t hate me when I say that I wasn’t a fan of either Wichita or Little Rock, they were a bit to ‘Mary Sue’ for me, and Columbus’s attraction felt a bit forced. Sorry, that’s just how I feel!  
> So, needless to say, neither one of the girls will be in this story, sorry again! The time frame would be a few months after Tallahassee picked Columbus off the side of the highway, uninterrupted by anything the girls did.

          Hi , my name’s Columbus, Columbus Ohio. Hey, I know that not my real name but there’s not much use for real names anymore. When you’re running for your life from zombies in Zombieland, you don’t really need names.  
The whole world’s gone to shit, but hey, let me give you a bit of background on me. I’ll tell you straight up, I’m a nerd who loves World of Warcraft and is afraid of just about everything. The fear thing is probably the only reason I’m still alive, I’m cautious.

           You see, I’ve got this list, a list of rules of mine for survival. My top four are as follows: 1. Cardio, 2. The Double Tap, 3. Beware Bathrooms, and 4. Seatbelts. Even if you don’t follow the others, these are absolutely essential.

           The fatties and the stupid die first, if you can’t outrun them for long distances or are too stupid to make sure they’re truly dead, you die. Bathrooms, they can catch you with your pants down, literally. Seatbelts, it’s a shit world out there and crashes or hits are common, don’t want to send yourself though the windshield for nothing, so buckle up.

           Now that you have the basics down, let me tell you a bit more about myself. I’m a scrawny nerd of twenty-something with dark, curly hair. I may seem like the least likely candidate for survival, but my rules have kept me alive this long.

           You may be wondering about how I got my name, Columbus. Well, my parents live in Columbus, Ohio, even though I was never very close to them, I still want to see them, even if only to see a familiar face. My name is where I’m headed.

           So, on with the story, while I was walking down a highway, I met another survivor of thirty-something in a big, black Cadillac with a white 3 painted on both front doors and a plow on the grill. He’s a big guy, not fat, but a muscle head, kinda looks like a cowboy with his Stetson hat and boots. He came across a little cold at the beginning, but he really does grow on you, from his need to break things on occasion to his half-cocked fighting style. He’s also a huge fan girl of Bill Murray’s. Oh, and to top it all off, he basically not afraid of anything.

           He has a twisted sense of humor, but in light of the fact that it’s now Zombieland out there, it’s actually quite funny. When he’s not cracking a joke, going completely Apeshit on the zombies or in one of his infamous ‘blowing off steam’ moments, he’s on his crazy ass vendetta to get Twinkies.

           Those Twinkies have put us in so many bad situations, but, I’ve got to hand it to him, he’s in the ass kicking business and has been able to get us out more times than I can could count. Though I have noticed that he hate’s Snow Balls, the Hostess kind, because of the coconut. He hates coconut, not the taste, but the consistency.

           Through all that though, he does have his moments, if there was a particularly bad day and I said something emotional or just downright sad, he’ll probably make some snarky comment but even if he does or doesn’t make a comment, he’ll pat my shoulder or back; that’s his way of comforting, he’s not always the best with words.

           He’s got my back and I’ve got his, and throughout our travels we’ve learned not to trust anyone but ourselves. Living in Zombieland has made most of the very few survivors into devious little dipshits who will screw you over faster than you can blink if you so much as show them your back.

           Well, now that we’re all done with the introduction crap, let’s get a move on with the current story. Of course, we’re in a grocery store looking for the rare and elusive Twinkie for Tallahassee. And of course, it’s gone to shit.

           “Don’t even think about it, you fucker!” Tallahassee yelled at a fat, gore covered zombie who was lumbering at him. Tal was wielding a pickaxe, which he drove through the zombie’s right eye socket. He stepped on its neck and wrenched the pick out before he spun around and punched another zombie in the face. He jumped over to the fallen zombie and drove the pick through its skull. He pulled it out again and realized that I wasn’t within his sight.

           “Columbus! Where’d you go?” I was two rows over with three zombies chasing my ass. I spun and shot the closest in the chest, when he fell, he tripped up the others but it wasn’t long before they were up and running again.

           While I was running, I turned and shot the second, this time in the head, but my back slammed into something solid. I spun away, thinking it was a zombie, but a hand grabbed my arm and spun me around to the side, it was Tallahassee.

           He had his Winchester 1892 “Mare’s Leg” already drawn and pulled the trigger, finishing off the last one. Or at least, the last one in that small group, more where already pouring in at the far end of the isle.

           “Let’s go, Spit Fuck!” I know, I know, it’s an endearing term though, really. Tal was already pulling on my arm, I gladly obliged in getting my ass moving. We were almost to the end of the isle when a zombie appeared in front of us. I slammed on my brakes, but there was slime or something on the floor and I fell on my ass, but Tallahassee kept running at it and ended up kicking its face in.

           Whilst I was sprawled out on my backside, I noticed a white and blue box, wedged under the edge of the shelving. It was a box of Twinkies. I reached for them and had just gotten my fingers wrapped around it when Tal grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, yelling,

           “Get up!” He was already running toward the front, pulling me along as he spoke.

          “I am!” I shouted back, clutching the box to my chest with my left hand while wielding my double barrel with my right. One second thought, I don’t think he saw the Twinkies. I grinned inwardly; I couldn’t wait to see his face when he saw them.

          As I was thinking, I almost tripped on a box of Apple Jacks. Stop thinking, I have to focus or I’m gonna get myself killed. Now back in reality, we burst through the front doors to find that luckily, the parking lot was relatively empty and the black caddie was still where we had left it.

          Tallahassee tossed his pickaxe in the back and slammed the door while I ran and hopped into my place on the passenger seat. He was jumping into his own a moment later, turning the key and stepping on the gas as I clicked my seatbelt into place. We rocketed away from the swarmed store, leaving it in our rearview mirror.

          “Woo! That was fun shit right there!” I scoffed,

          “Yeah, if you count barely getting out with our lives as ‘fun’.” Tal lightly punched my shoulder,

          “Naw, you’re just a worry wart, you need to lighten up man!”

          “Well, worrying is what has kept me, and now us, alive for this long, I think I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing.” I paused for a moment, giving a frustrated huff, before continuing, “You really should put your seatbelt on.” It was his turn to scoff,

          “Yeah, you keep sayin’ that, kid, but just you watch, one of these day’s you’re gonna wish you didn’t use those things.” I huffed, folding my arms,

          “I’m not a kid, you know, I’m in my twenties.”

          “And I’m in my thirties, so big fuckin’ whoop; I’m still older than you.” He looked over at me and finally noticed the box sitting on my lap. He stuttered over his words before he actually got them into a coherent sentence,

          “That what I think it is?” Score.

          “Oh, what these?” I picked up the box and looked at it, acting innocent. Tallahassee slammed on the brakes, causing me to nearly choke to death as the seatbelt cut into my throat.

          “Aw man! I love you, Spit Fuck!” He actually flung himself out of his seat and wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug. A moment later, when he released me, he ruffled my hair and I handed him the box, rather his attention on the Twinkies than me at this point in time, he almost asphyxiated me.

          He returned to his seat with his prize in hand before he tore open the box and pulled out a little golden log wrapped in plastic. Tal sat there a moment, just staring at it, before he tore it open and took a deep breath of it. He bit into the sponge cake with a sound that actually made me worry more than normal about the state of his mental health.

          “I still like Snow Balls better.” I said, more to irk him than anything. He glared at me through the corner of his eye and took another bite of the Twinkie, making an impossible noise, just to irk me back. I rolled my eyes and look out the window.


	2. Chapter 2

          It was getting late; the sun was already on the horizon. We needed a place to bunker down for the night and seeing how we were in the middle of nowhere in Colorado, we probably weren’t going to be able to just find a mansion like we did while we were in L.A. The only reason we left was because it was getting old having to deal with the sheer number of zombies.

          So, we were headed east, away from the larger metropolitan areas since they held the largest concentrations of zombies. The few humans who were still there, acted almost no different than the zombies. They’ll stab you in the back and tear you to shreds if you drop your guard. Literally in some cases.

          I winced at the reminder, shifting in my seat as I felt my wound pull uncomfortably tight. It was a stab wound, a few weeks old now, just beginning to finally close up a bit. We had been talking to a woman in a grocery store, when her boyfriend came up behind me and stabbed me in the back.

          Needless to say, Tallahassee killed both of them easily and was able to carry me out, even as a horde of zombies was coming, ravenous at the smell of blood. Lucky for me, though, the man had terrible aim and hit mid-back, several inches to the right of my spine.

          Unluckily for me, the knife wasn’t exactly clean and my wound festered for the first two weeks. I had a fever of over a hundred for most of that time as the infection spread, but Tal turned out to be quite a capable medic. He said that he was used to dealing with wounds like this from hunting and hiking, so he knew a few tricks.

          With time, my fever fell away and the infection cleared up, so it was now healing nicely. Just because it was finally healing doesn’t mean it still didn’t hurt like hell.

          Tallahassee noticed my discomfort, so, he abandoned his Twinkie and looked up at me,

          “You okay? It’s not giving you trouble again, is it?” I grimaced before shifting again, shaking my head,

          “No, it’s fine.” Tal narrowed an eye at me, clearly able to see my pain,

          “No, it ain’t fine. Don’t be a hero here, let me help you, we don’t want it getting infected again.”

          “I said it’s fine. It’s just pulling a bit, that’s all.” Tallahassee pressed his lips into a thin line, controlling his rather explosive temper, and just said,

          “Is it dry? Does it need more of the cream?” I nodded slightly,

          “Yeah, a little bit.” He nodded,

          “Okay, hop on out. It’s in my duffle.” He was out of the caddie before I could even argue with him, so I muttered to myself while I unclipped my seatbelt and climbed out of the car.

          Tal already had the back open and was riffling through his duffle when I got there. I already knew the drill, so I shrugged off my brown hoodie and folded it neatly before I put it next to Tal’s duffle. I gave my light blue button down the same treatment before Tallahassee made a triumphant sound and pulled the jar of cream out.

          He never would tell me what was in it, just that it works, and works it does. It acts as an antiseptic and a moisturizer to keep the wound from drying and cracking open and getting infected. Another plus about the cream is that it’s also a mild anesthetic, so it helps with the pain too.

          Tal set the jar to the side and started shuffling through the duffle again, looking for clean bandages. That gave me enough time to carefully pull my under shirt over my head and fold it. I reached around my back and began picking at the bandage that was already there; it’s the kind of bandage that you would put over a suture, so all of its edges are adhesive.

          Tallahassee found the pack of bandages and had exchanged it for the jar of cream just as I had finished peeling off the bandage. I wadded the used bandage in my hands as Tal examined my wound.

          I jumped when his hand touched my back. Tal asked,

          “Did that hurt, Spit Fuck?” I shook my head,

          “No, just surprised me.” I could practically feel him hesitate, unsure if I was lying or not. “Honestly, it didn’t hurt, just jumpy.” Tal sighed before returning to the wound. I could hear him mutter something, but I couldn’t make it out and I didn’t press.

          Tal smeared some of the cold cream over my wound, immediately soothing some of the burn. His hand was still on my back, so he probably felt my muscles relax, but he didn’t say anything about it.

          I didn’t turn around to face him, but I heard him screw the lid of the jar back on before picking up the box of bandages. He opened the box and pulled out an individually wrapped bandage. He ripped open the package before taking a step back over to me, but didn’t stick it on just yet. He touched around the wound again, this time asking,

          “How does it feel now?” I sighed, knowing that I was caught in my lie, before saying,

          “Better.”

          “Good.” I heard him peel off the backing of the bandage and then he put it over my wound. He pressed on the edges, making sure the seal was tight before backing away, saying,

          “You’re good.” I picked up my undershirt and tugged it over my head before I said,

          “Thanks.” Tal shoved the supplies back into his duffle nodding in reply. I had just pushed my arms through the sleeves of my button up when I thought I heard a noise. I froze, listening for it again. Tal noticed and whispered,

          “What is it?” I held a hand out to him, silencing him, and then I heard it again. I spun around, looking for where it had come from. “What do you hear?” Tal asked again but I didn’t respond. I thought I saw the car that the sound was coming from, so I jogged over to it.

          It was a blue, compact, Honda, blood decorated the exterior and the front two tires were flat. The front seat was empty, but the back did indeed have an occupant. Tal was right on my tail and when he saw what I was looking at, he backed up a step, shaking his head,

          “No. Fuck no, not gonna happen.” I opened the door to the back seat and a large, black, German Shepherd jumped out. It jumped up, putting its front paws on my stomach. It licked at my hand when I petted his head, he’s friendly.

          I looked over at Tallahassee, who had a scowl on his face.

          “Oh come on! Please let me keep him! You can name him if you want, he doesn’t have any tags.” Tal crossed his arms,

          “How about Dip Shit?” I glared at him,

          “No, a nice name.” Tel growled,

          “Who even said you could keep him?” I was at the point of begging, all dignity’s long gone by now,

          “Please! Please, Tal, let me keep him!” Tallahassee was silent for a little while, silently fuming. The dog put its paws back on the ground and sat at my feet, leaning against my leg,

          “See! Look how obedient he is!” Tal finally threw his hands up in defeat, saying,

          “Fine, keep the damn thing! But if it shit’s or pisses in my Caddie, I’ll kill it myself.”

          “Deal!” I crouched next to the dog and rubbed his face, his tail was wagging so I took that as a good sign. “Come on, what do you want to call him?” A look of pain crossed his face as he pressed his lips into a thin line; I instantly knew what he had thought of. Tal swallowed and turned away, heading back to the car. I decided that I could speak up, so I did exactly that,

          “Buck’s a good name,” I noticed him flinch, so I continued the thought, “But it’s up to you.”

          “Not that… anything you want but that.” Tal said over his shoulder, his voice was clearly strained.

          “Okay, how about Finnegan?” Tal nodded, but otherwise stayed silent. I figured he needed some time, so I turned my attention back to the dog, saying, “What do you think? Do you like Finnegan?” He licked my face in response. I grinned and stood, giving his head a final pat, saying, “Well, Fin, it looks like you’re stuck with us.”

          I patted my thigh as I walked back towards the caddie, calling him to me. He ran over and hopped in the backseat as I held the door open for him. I closed the door just as Tal closed the back; I quickly climbed into my seat and put my belt on before Tallahassee climbed in and hit the gas.

 

          Half an hour later, we arrived at another store, we still needed supplies since the last one didn’t exactly pan out; not that Tallahassee had a hand in that at all, note the sarcasm. Moving on, this one looked more deserted than the other one anyhow.

          I hopped down and opened the door behind me to let Fin out, who jumped down and pranced around my legs, wagging his tail. I chuckled as I patted his head with my free hand; the other was holding my gun.

          “Are you sure you wanna bring him in, Spit Fuck? You don’t know what he might do.” Tal asked as he strapped various weapons to his body. I shrugged,

          “No better time to find out than the present, besides, he might be able to help us with the zombies.” Tal scoffed,

          “Yeah, and my shit’s gonna grow legs and win a marathon.” I just glared at him and ignored the comment, instead I patted my thigh to call Fin to my side, he had been sniffing something on the ground a little way away. He looked up at me before trotting to me and sat obediently at my side.

           I knew Tal had seen what Finnegan did, so I crossed my arms and cocked an eyebrow at the staring muscle head. His eyes narrowed, not saying anything out loud, but I could read his lips saying, little shit, as he returned to the weapons.

          I just chuckled to myself, triumphant, as I walked toward the store front a few feet, looking in through the windows the best I could. The sun had set quite a while ago, there were only a few pale pink streaks left, the rest of the sky was dark blue and black. Inside the store was pitch-black, it made me nervous.

          Tal walked up behind me, shoulder brushing mine as he walked past. I grabbed his arm, asking,

          “Wait, can’t this wait until tomorrow, it’ll be safer then.” He looked back at me, thinking for a moment, before he asked,

          “When was the last time you ate something?” I subconsciously touched my stomach, which was empty, had been for a quite while.

          “I’m fine.” Tal fully turned to face me,

          “That wasn’t an answer.” He looked threatening, but I knew he wasn’t going to hurt me, so I repeated myself, emphasizing both words,

          “I’m fine.” I could see his jaw muscles clench as he turned back toward the store, saying,

          “We’re going in there now. Here,” he handed me a heavy duty flashlight, “stay close. Don’t get separated again.”


	3. Chapter 3

          Tallahassee walked ahead of me, baseball bat resting on his shoulder while various other weapons were hanging off his body. I clutched my shotgun across my chest with both hands, following him; Fin walked with me, sniffing at the air.

          Going against his character, Tal didn’t make noise upon entering the store, instead, he shone his flashlight around, looking for anyone or anything. The store itself wasn’t looted too badly, but there were a few bodies littering the aisles, long dead luckily. 

          Fin trotted past Tal, who glanced back at me, I shrugged. Tal rolled his eyes and continued forward, following the dog for a little while. Tallahassee veered off the main aisle and went down a canned food aisle and started throwing a few things into his backpack. I turned my back to his, watching our rear, sweeping the light. 

          I thought I saw something move at the end of the aisle, so I squinted and took a few steps forward trying to see what it was. As I slowly walked forward, Finnegan suddenly darted around the corner in front of me. I involuntarily squeaked, he scared me half to death. 

          Tal’s light swung over and lit me up, upon seeing it was just the dog, he hissed quietly, 

          “Get back over here!” I hurried over to him with Fin on my heels. Tal stood just as I reached him and moved down the aisle, grabbing a few other random food items. 

          We had moved through two more aisles before Fin growled, hackles raised. He had a wide stance and was facing in front of us, toward the front of the store. 

          As the first zombie appeared, Fin started barking at it. Tal grabbed at the dog, trying to silence it, not wanting to call any other zombies to us, but Fin had taken off toward the dead man. He leapt through the air at the zombie, snarling, knocking him off his feet. He kept on the man and tore his throat out before he ran back to us, still on edge, growling, but he didn’t just face one direction, he kept moving, looking in all directions. 

          “We need to get out of here, now!” I whispered at Tal, who was looking around for the zombies that we now knew where there. Something roared, and as if on cue, zombies swarmed; behind us, in front of us, and coming over the shelves’ on both sides. 

          “Run!” Tal screamed, tugging on my arm. He pulled out his Mare and shot at zombies in front of us, trying to get out path cleared. I shot at the zombies that came over and from behind, keeping them at bay while we ran. Fin helped Tal by taking out zombies in the front; it was as if he was trained to do this. 

          The number of zombies was slowly dwindling as we neared the front of the store, but even so, there were still many, and that’s only what we could see. My foot caught a body and I crashed to the ground, shotgun skidded across the floor away from me. 

          A zombie was already on me, snapping at my face. I used my legs and kept his body back while using my arms to keep him from taking a bite. In a blur of black fur, the zombie was off me. I scurried over to my fallen gun and reached it just in time to shoot another zombie that was coming at me. 

          Tallahassee hauled me to my feet, tugging me toward the front again. The path was relatively clear, so we ran as I screamed for Finnegan, 

          “Fin! Finnegan!! Here, boy!!” I could still hear him snarling behind us. 

          “Leave him! We need to move, now!” We were already running, but I didn’t have the time to correct him, I was busy watching my feet, making sure I didn’t trip on something else. 

          When we made it to the front, we weren’t at the doors, we were several aisles to the left of it, and so we continued running, this time parallel to the front wall. Tal was only a few strides ahead of me when something hit me from the right, slamming me onto the floor, skidding a distance. 

          I shouted, but my head slammed against the tile so hard, I was seeing stars and was disoriented. I had enough clarity to see jaws coming toward me, so I threw my hands up, holding the zombie back, but it was pushing so hard that I was sliding across the slick floor. 

          With a deafening boom, the zombie fell away and Tal was at my side, dragging me to me feet. He threw my arm over his shoulder and wrapped an arm around my waist, and then he ran with me. My head was still spinning; the most I could do was weakly grasp his shoulder and flail my feet in a way that almost resembled running. 

          We broke out into the night air just as I was regaining my senses, so I was more capable of running, but I looked over my shoulder at the store; still no Finnegan. I pulled out of Tal’s grasp and spun around, screaming, 

          “Finnegan!! Here!! Come here!!” I could still hear his barking, but I still couldn’t see him. Tal reached back for me, 

          “Come on, Spit Fuck, the zombies will be out any second!” I allowed him to drag me the short distance back to the caddie, all the while I still screamed for the dog. Just as Tal was pushing me into the passenger seat, Fin burst through the front doors, sprinting at us, a hoard of zombies on his tail. 

          “Fin!! Get in Tal, I’ll get him!” Tal cursed creatively before running around the car to climb into his seat. I threw open the back door for the dog, who jumped in as soon as he got to it. I slammed the door and jumped into my own seat as Tal hit the gas, speeding away just as the first zombie hit the side of the car. 

          I pulled my door closed and put my seatbelt on before I looked into the backseat at Fin, who was panting heavily and was covered in blood. Luckily, it didn’t look like any of it belonged to him; I’ll have to give him an examination later jut to make sure he didn’t get bit or hurt. 

          “Are you okay?! Did you get bit?!” Tal franticly asked. 

          “I’m good! Just got knocked around a bit.” Tal looked unconvinced. 

          “Are you sure? You don’t hurt anywhere?” I rolled my eyes, breathing slowing slightly, 

          “I hurt everywhere! What do you expect? I’m fine though, it’s nothing new.” Tal growled and tightened his grip on the steering wheel, glaring at the stretch of road ahead of them. 

          “What happened in there? Did they seem organized to you?” I asked a few minutes later, after he had calmed down slightly. 

          “Sure as fuck seemed like it, I don’t know how though.” 

          “That looked like pack behavior to me. An ambush, they must be evolving or something, developing tactics.” 

          “Impossible! The only things those fuckers are good for is killing, blind and random killing. They don’t think! They can’t fuckin’ think!” I shrugged, 

          “You explain what happened in there then.” Tal growled, his knuckles turning white against the wheel. After several moments of him growling, not actually speaking, I crossed my arms and looked out into the inky blackness. 

          A little while later, Tal finally spoke up, asking, 

          “How about that one?” I looked to where he pointed. It was a two story, nice looking hotel, rooms opening to the outside and some to the inside. It looked defendable, so I nodded and he turned in, going slowly as we both scoped out the area. 

          He pulled up to the front and parked. We sat in silence, just looking at the building, contemplating. 

          “Are you up to sweeping it?” He asked, looking at me from the corner of his eye. I rolled my eyes before I unclipped my seatbelt and threw open the door. I hopped down, but suddenly my world spun and the ground rushed up to meet me. 

 

           My head throbbed, it sounded like I was underwater; sound was as if it was a distance away and muffled. My balance was fucked up; it felt like I just got off a merry-go-round after a jock was pushing it. Someone was shaking my shoulder, saying my name, but I couldn’t really respond, my brain was too foggy. 

          A few moments or hours later, I couldn’t tell, the spinning faded and my hearing returned to normal. Tal was shaking my shoulders, saying my name franticly. I opened my eyes to see his panicked face above my own; I was lying on my back on the ground beside the caddie. 

           “What- what happened?” I breathed, still disoriented. 

           “Columbus!” his head dropped momentarily to his chest before he looked back up at me and continued, “You passed out, Spit Fuck! You’re obviously not as fine as you keep trying to tell me!” I tried to sit up, but Tal held me down by my shoulders, saying, 

          “Don’t you dare! You can’t move right now!” I just breathed a moment, giving my still foggy brain some time to catch up before I said, 

          “We’re completely exposed out here, we need to move.” 

          “But you –“ I cut him off there, saying, 

          “But me nothing, Tal, the longer we just sit here the longer opportunity something has to attack us. Let me up.” I weakly pushed against his shoulder, but he held fast and didn’t budge. He looked unconvinced and hesitant, so I tried to sit up again; this time he slid his arms underneath me and picked me up like you would a child. 

          “Tal! Put me down!” I clung to his neck, world spinning again. Tallahassee took the few steps back to the caddie and set me onto my seat. Just from my expression, he could tell my head was spinning, so he said, 

          “There’s no way I’m letting you come with me while I scout, no fucking way.” 

          “Tal, I’m fi-“ He cut me off, 

           “Columbus, I swear to god, if you say you’re fine again…” He didn’t finish his sentence; just let it hang in the air. He took a deep and calming breath before he continued, “You’re going to stay here with the doors locked while I go scout; I’ll be back shortly.” Tal cut off my words by closing the door and walking around the back of the caddie. He quickly grabbed a few weapons before I could say something and closed the back door. 

            It was clear he was ignoring me, so I wasn’t going to give him that option; I opened my door and hopped down again. Nothing had changed, my world spun and I collapsed, but Tal caught me, arm around my waist. 

            He helped me back into my seat before he rested his hand on the doorframe, contemplating. 

           “Don’t move until I get back, if there’s danger, honk the horn. I’ll be back shortly.” He went to close the door again, but I held out a hand and stopped it, saying, 

          “At least take Finnegan, he can help you since I can’t.” Tal was uncertain for a moment, but knew firsthand what the dog could do, so he pulled open the back seat door and clicked his tongue at Fin, calling him out. Fin jumped down and began sniffing around. 

          Tal closed that door, saying, 

          “I’ll be right back.” Then he closed my door and walked off, disappearing into the hotel with Fin on his heels. I was immediately anxious when he left my line of sight merging with the darkness of the structure; only his silhouette was visible because of his flashlight lightening the wall ahead of him, but completely vanished a moment later.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Seemingly hours later, Tal and Fin reappeared, jogging over to him. Tallahassee opened my door and said,

“It’s clear, only a few bodies. Come on, let’s get moving.” He reached in and put an arm around my back to help me down. My head was light, but if wasn’t spinning like it was earlier. Tal kept his hand on my back, steadying me when I needed it as he led me to the room he had picked out.

The room was on the second floor, to one side of the building, easily defendable with a quick escape route if something was too happen. It was a very excellent choice, one that I would’ve made if I had been with him.

Once we got in the room, Tal had me immediately lie down on the bed further in the room. As soon as my head hit the pillow, my head started throbbing again. I half-heartedly laughed in pain as I said, with eyes clenched shut,

“Guess I hit my head harder than I thought.” I heard Tal growl as he tossed his backpack and duffle onto the other bed. He started riffling through one of them as he said,

“You probably have a concussion, so you need to sleep and let you body heal itself. Since you can go to sleep and never wake up again, I’m going to keep waking you up throughout the night to make sure you’re okay.” I heard a pill bottle rattle around and soon after that, the crinkle of a water bottle.

“Here,” I cracked open my eyes to find Tal kneeling beside the bed, holding out a pill and an open water bottle.

“What is it?”

“Ibuprofen, it’ll help reduce the swelling of your brain.”

“Tal, I know what Ibuprofen does, you didn’t have to explain it.” I took the pill and put it in my mouth before taking the bottle and carefully drank the pill down.

“Drink the rest of that too.” Tal said as he stood up and walked into the bathroom. I heard a faucet turn on, so I asked,

“This place has running water still?” Tal’s muffled voice answered,

“Yeah, a little bit, but I don’t trust it for drinkin’ though.” Tal walked back in, carrying a wet cloth. He knelt down beside me again while he was folding the wash cloth. He laid it across my forehead, saying,

“This will help with the headaches as well.” He was right, it immediately lessened the pain a bit. I closed my eyes, focusing on the coolness of the cloth for a bit, before I managed to say,

“Thanks, Tal.” I couldn’t see it, but I could hear the smile in his voice as he said,

“No problem, Spit Fuck.” The last thing I heard was the coils of the other bed compressing as my mind faded off into sleep.

 

As promised, Tal woke me up periodically throughout the night to check on me. The final time I was awoken, it wasn’t by him, it was by sunlight glaring into my eyes. I groaned, I didn’t want to get up but I knew I had to, so I sat up and put my feet on the floor.

Sitting up caused my head to throb again, but it was much less intense than it was the night before. I rubbed my face before I looked up at the other bed, which was occupied by Tal.

He was fast asleep on his left side, arms crossed over his chest. He was facing the door, so his back was too me.

Finnegan was curled up between our beds. I almost stepped on him when I had thrown my legs over the side of the bed. He lifted his head, looking up at me, his brown eyes were soft.

I patted the bed beside me, calling him up. He happily obliged and jumped up beside me and laid across my lap. His boney elbows dug into my thigh, so I shifted him into a more comfortable position before I stroked his head.

I noted that he wasn’t covered in blood and gore anymore, so Tal must’ve given him a bath. I ran my hands over his legs and body, looking for any wounds, luckily I couldn’t find any. Whoever trained him had trained him brilliantly.

I gently moved Finnegan aside and stood, head only dully throbbing now, and stretched. My back and shoulder popped before I lowered my arms and walked to the window, bare feet silent on the short carpet.

I pushed the curtain aside slightly, looking back at Tal to make sure the ray of light that woke me up wouldn’t do the same to him; the light was across his stomach, so that was okay. The morning sun was just barely grazing the horizon still making most of the sky a light blue already.

Across the street I could see a zombie stumbling down the sidewalk. It didn’t seem to be in a rush, nor was it heading toward us, so I ignored it, knowing that if Tal woke up and I wasn’t there, he hunt me down and feed me to the zombies himself.

I returned the curtain to its normal spot before walking over to my backpack, which was on a chair in the corner, and pulled out a clean set of clothes. With fresh clothes in hand, I walked into the bathroom. I reeked, and seeing how we hadn’t come across a place with running water in a few days, it was understandable.

 

About twenty minutes later, I walked out of the bathroom to find Tallahassee just sitting up. My new clothes consisted of a black-tee shirt and dark-wash jeans. I was still rubbing the towel through the tangled mess called hair as Tal rubbed his face, saying,

“What are you doing up, Spit Fuck? You need to rest.” I pulled the towel off my head and tossed it onto the foot of my bed, saying,

“I rested last night; I think I earned the ability to take a shower.” Tal just sighed and looked at Fin, who was still where I had left him on my bed.

“How are you feeling?” he looked over at me before continuing, “Head still hurting?”

“Only a little, I feel much better.” Tal nodded before he stood and intentionally popped his back by twisting his torso before he walked over to his duffle, which was on the low dresser. He riffled through it and pulled out a water bottle, which he tossed over to me, saying,

“Drink that.” I caught the bottle and was twisting off the top as he disappeared into the bathroom. I noticed Fin was staring at me, so I figured he wanted some water. I stood and walked over to the dresser and poured some of my water into the small, plastic cup before offering to Fin.

He jumped down from the bed and ran the couple strides over to me and lapped at the water. He quickly finished the cup and sat back, looking up at me for more, so I obliged and poured him some more as I heard the shower turn on.

 

Fifteen minutes later Tal came sauntering out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips. I was sprawled across my bed, reading a book on World of Warcraft I had found a few days ago. I rolled my eyes as he started digging through his duffle, looking for clean clothes.

“You know, it’s a lot easier if you get your clothes before the shower.”

“You ain’t my momma, so I can do whatever I want!” Tal called over his shoulder. I grinned before I replied,

“That’s right, I could never give birth to something as ugly as you.” Tal sent me the birdie over his shoulder as he finally pulled out some clothes. He glared at me as he walked by, but I could see the smile that wasn’t on his lips in his eyes, so I knew he wasn’t actually mad.

As he disappeared back into the bathroom, I returned to my book, lightly chuckling to myself. It’s good to get a jab in back at him every once in a while.

 

Around mid-afternoon, Tal was getting a little bit grumpy, complaining about not having any Twinkies left, even though he had just finished off the box that I had snagged for him just yesterday. We are sitting in the hotel still, now discussing his ‘Twinkie withdrawal’.

“Come on, Columbus!” I adamantly shook my head,

“No, Tal, there’s no such thing as withdrawal from Twinkies!” Tallahassee was practically on his knees, begging me,

“Just one quick store, please! I promise I’ll make these last longer!” My arms were crossed over my chest. I stood up and began pacing the length of the room.

“We were just in two stores yesterday so we don’t need supplies for at least another day, can’t you hold off till then?” Tal sounded like a winey five year old,

“Nooo, that’s too long from now!” I kept my eyes on him as I paced, contemplating. If I didn’t agree to go, he would just force me to come but stay in the car, meanwhile, if I did agree to go then I could at least watch his back for him.

I stopped pacing and let my arms fall to my sides before I said,

“Alright, fine, but only one store!” Tal jumped up and wrapped me in a big bear hug, lifting my off my feet, yelling,

“Awesome! Let’s go then, Spit Fuck!” I rolled my eyes and twisted out of his grasp saying,

“We’ve gotta get our bags first.” My backpack was still on the chair, so I walked over and threw it over my shoulders after shrugging on my favorite brown hoodie. When I turned around, Tal was already at the door with his duffle on his shoulder.

I raised an eyebrow at him saying,

“A bit eager are we?” He gave me a dead-pan look, saying,

“Fucking Twinkies, man, there’s nothin’ much better than that!” I grinned at him. His enthusiasm is so adorable when it comes to Twinkies; it’s rather strange, thinking about a man his size being adorable but he pulls it off with ease.

Tal threw open the room door and hurried out, I patted my thigh, calling Finnegan before I followed Tal out. Tal’s enthusiasm is infectious and for one of the first times since the worlds gone to shit I found that I couldn’t stop smiling.


	5. Chapter 5

Ten minutes later we found ourselves standing in the parking lot of a large grocery store. Tal has his usual arsenal strapped to his body and I have my double barrel and Finnegan on my other side.

I tilted my head toward Tal, suddenly hesitant again, asking,

“You sure about this?” He grinned, saying,

“Hells yeah, Twinkies, here I come!” We walked forward, I followed slightly behind Tal, and into the shade and coolness of the building. For mid-day in late summer, it was still extremely warm in the direct sun.

Once again, Tal didn’t announce his presence by making a racket, but instead slipped in silently. We hurried through the building to where the Twinkies would be, which was in the far back corner for some reason.

There are substantially more bodies in this store than the last one that we were in, I’m not sure whether or not that’s a good sign. The times of death varied greatly, I could easily tell that as we ran by.

Once we made it to the corner, there was a large section of Twinkies. Tal was completely awestruck at the ‘gold mine’ per se, so I quickly stuffed a box into my backpack and pulled on his arm, harshly whispering,

“I don’t like it here; something feels wrong, let’s go. We can stay in the area so we can keep coming back here, but we need to leave for now.” Tal looked reluctant, but nodded and began leading the way back to the entrance, weaving around the bodies.

We were only a quarter of the way there when something grabbed my leg, causing me to fall. Tal swung around at the sound of my body slamming into the floor, but I had already kicked the hand off my ankle and kicked the head in that was just behind it.

“Columbus!” Tal dragged me to my feet and got me moving again, Fin right behind us, hackles raised and snarling. My left arm was burning and throbbing, all of my weight had been slammed onto it, though, luckily it didn’t feel broken.

All at once we were swarmed, completely surrounded. Fin tore out throats, I blasted, and Tal cut through the zombies around us. The floor our persons were coated in blood and other gore as we slowly killed our way towards the front.

Somehow, we had gotten cut off from each other by a zombie, which quickly became far more than just one and I was out of ammo. I used my shotgun as a club, beating back the zombies as I screamed at Tal.

I could barely see Tallahassee through the writhing mass of bodies, but I could see that Fin was near him and Tal was blowing away zombies. The zombies seemingly lost interest in Tal, and turned toward me, ignoring Tal completely.

I could hear Tal screaming my name as he continued blasting at the zombies that were between the two of us, but I felt teeth clamp on my right wrist, breaking skin and sinking down to bone. I screamed in pain as the bite immediately began to burn with a searing, white-hot pain.

I bashed in the skull of the one that bit me before madly swinging at the zombies between Tal and me. I could see him clearly a few moments later, no interference from the dead.

“RUN!!” I screamed at him, but arms had already grabbed me, wrapped around my middle, and were dragging me to the ground. Fin continued attacking the zombies that were engulfing me; Tal did the same but looked terrified. The fear was not for his own life and in that instance I realized what that feeling in the pit of my stomach was that had been growing there since the day I met him on the highway.

My expression softened and just before my head completely disappeared, I managed to yell to Tal,

“RUN NOW!!” Suddenly, I couldn’t see anything except the blackness of writhing bodies. I could only hear the guttural groans and the weight of the dead around me, then nothing at all. I couldn’t see, hear, or feel anything anymore; a blissful sleep carried me away from the pain.

 

“NO, COLUMBUS!!” I screamed as his head disappeared into the mass of zombies. I continued blasting away at the horde with my Mare, eyes blurring. As I reloaded, the zombies suddenly seemed to lose interest with Columbus’ body and instead began coming at me again.

As they cleared away from his body, I could just barely see him. He was lying on his back covered in blood and goo, he wasn’t breathing and I could see a nasty bite on his wrist.

I screamed in rage as I began my assault once again, but their numbers didn’t dwindle as I killed them, they grew. More zombies were flooding in from aisles further back, forcing me away from Columbus.

Finnegan was about to be engulfed in the same way as Columbus had been, so I lunged forward and pulled him back. Even though he’s a fairly large dog, I managed to hold him in one arm while I continued shooting with the other. His loud snarling was now a constant droning in my ear.

The zombies forced me all the way back to the cash registers before my ammo ran out.  I threw the Mare back into her holster before pulling a fireman’s axe off my back, decapitating the closest zombie before I was forced to turn and run from the store.

The zombies didn’t give up the chase after I exited the store, so I continued sprinting to the caddie, throwing the dog across the middle divider as I jumped into the driver’s seat and hit the gas. I could hear bodies slam against the side of the caddie before speeding away.

My eyes were so blurry I could hardly see the road, so I wiped a hand angrily across the both of them, clearing my vision slightly.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK!!” I screamed over and over again, punching the steering wheel. Finnegan was panting, sitting in Columbus’ seat to my right, but I hardly noticed the dog.

“MOTHERFUCKERS!! I’LL KILL YOU ALL!” I continued screaming at no one as I drove well above a safe speed. I had to continually wipe my eyes so that I could even see, but a few minutes later, I slammed on my brakes, coming to a full stop in the middle of the road.

I just sat there and screamed, cursing any god or man I could think of; head against the steering wheel. I screamed at the zombies that had taken Columbus from me, but I also screamed at myself. If I hadn’t forced him to help me get those fucking Twinkies, then he would still be here, sitting on my right.

Something licked my hand, causing me to jerk into an upright position. It was Finnegan, his ears were pinned submissively to his skull, and his brown eyes seemed larger than normal. Both his front paws were already on the center divider and his right was almost on my thigh as he slowly inched forward.

Even though we had Fin for less than a day, Columbus had loved the dog. Fin reminds me of Columbus; big, soft eyes, worried about me, hell, protecting me. I couldn’t control it anymore.

Tears fell down my cheeks as my eyes and chest burned. I hugged the animal, taking comfort in his warmth. Fin didn’t squirm or protest in anyway, he just let me hold him; seemingly knowing that I needed a companion.

 

A long while later, I realized the sun was extremely low on the horizon, already sinking beneath it; so I sat up, releasing the dog. I wiped the tears off my face and looked around. We were almost back to the hotel that we had stayed at the previous night, so I eased on the gas, slightly calmer now.

 

Within five minutes, Fin and I were back in the same room that we three had been occupying. I was leaning my back against the door; eyes squeezed closed, head tilted back. Once again, the tears began falling.

I felt Fin sit and then lean his shoulder against my leg. I could feel my legs quivering, so I sank to the floor, bringing my knees to my chest before pulling the dog to my side, arms wrapped around him again.

I cried into Fin’s fur for who knows how long. I knew it wasn’t exactly the most masculine thing in the world to do, but who gives a fuck? It was just Finnegan and me now. I had just lost my best friend to a horde of zombies that we wouldn’t have even met if I hadn’t been such a dick.

I was physically and mentally exhausted and ached all over. I stood, using the wall as a prop, before making my way over to Columbus’ bed. I collapsed into the middle of it, putting my face in the sheets, breathing in his lingering scent, bringing fresh tears to my eyes.

I didn’t bother to even kick off my boots as I wrapped the sheets around myself, curling into a small ball. Fin hopped up onto the bed beside me and curled up so that he was touching my back.

I wanted to scream, but the only thing that came out was a weak whimper. I buried my head into his pillow before my mind slowly shutdown, leading me into a dark sleep, filled with nightmares.

 

It was three days since the ‘Incident’, as I referred to it as, and I was in a downward spiral. I attacked anything that moved, apart from Finnegan obviously, and held no value for my own life anymore.

There had been many close calls already, but I had come out of them all victorious or at least alive and surrounded by the now truly dead. I had become reckless, running around half-cocked, screaming like a banshee, drawing any and all zombies possible to myself.

Honestly, I think I wanted to die, but I wanted to go down fighting. I had gone back to the store the next day, running into the midst of the horde that was still there. Eventually, I killed them all, but couldn’t find Columbus’ body anywhere.

I had already lost a few pounds, only eating a bite or two at most a day as I ran from place to place, killing all zombies I could find or attract to myself. At the rate I was going I would probably only be able to continue for a few weeks before my body shut down on itself.

That all changed when I was standing at the rear of the caddie in the hotel parking lot, readying some weapons. Fin was lying in the back beside my weapons with his head on his paws when he suddenly jerked his head up, looking behind me.

I had a Bowie Knife in my hand and spun around to find none other than Columbus standing fifty feet behind me. He wasn’t covered in grime like he had been the last time I saw him, he was in different clothes. He was at a distance where I couldn’t actually make out his face, but that didn’t matter. If he was a zombie, I couldn’t kill him, if he wasn’t, then he was a hallucination formed by my mind to torment me more so than the nightmares I got if I accidentally fell asleep.

The knife in my hand clattered to the ground. My eyes began blurring again as my legs buckled and I fell to my knees. Columbus started toward me; I pinched my eyes closed, not able to see him as a zombie if that was the case.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the last chapter was a bit confusing since I changed it to Talahassee's POV without really mentioning it. So, in this chapter it's back to Columbus' POV, just to clear a few things up.

I opened my eyes to find myself on the floor of the store still, not a zombie in sight. My head pounded and my entire body hurt, my wrist felt like it was on fire, spreading and radiating out from the bite.

I sat up and looked around again, still no zombies, but this area wasn’t safe, I need to move. I pushed myself to my feet, swaying dangerously, but the pounding slowly subsided. I hurried to the front doors and stepped out into the failing light of dusk.

I set off at a jog back in the direction of the hotel, holding onto the straps of my backpack; it should be just a few miles away. A long few miles seeing how with each step I took it felt like I was taking two steps back.

The hotel was in sight before I remembered the bite on my arm again. I slowed to a halt and looked down at it. Immediately around the bite, it was dark purples, reds, and green, veins further out were standing out a strong blue color. It still burned intensely.

I couldn’t go back there like this, if Tal was there and I turned, I don’t know but it sure as hell wouldn’t be good. I looked at the hotel again; the familiar black caddie was sitting in the parking lot.

A sharp pain in my gut made my eyes sting. I couldn’t go back there just to turn in front of Tallahassee’s eyes. My eyes blurred with tears as I looked around, finally landing on a house just across the road from the hotel.

I jogged over to it and tried the front door. It was unlocked, so I entered and then locked it behind me, ignoring several of my own rules in doing so. I was a dead man walking anyway, who needs my rules?

After doing a thorough sweep of the house, I found no zombies or any dead for that matter, so I locked the place down. All of the doors and windows are intact, so I locked all of them, hoping that that would detour any humans or zombies from coming in and keep myself in when I turned.

I carried a steak knife in each hand from the kitchen, my only weapons. I locked myself into the bathroom, after grabbing several blankets and a pillow from one of the two beds; it looked to be the most secure place in the house.

I tried the tap and surprisingly, it came one. I quickly turned it off, not wanting to waste any of the pressure that was left. I dropped the bedding in the corner before shucking off my grimy clothes. I turned on the shower and stepped in immediately, goose bumps covered my body once the cold water hit my skin, but it slowly warmed a bit.

I felt the water pressure drop five minutes later, so I turned it off, luckily already done and stepped out, drying with a towel that was in a stack under the sink. I remember a closet I had checked had clothes that looked like they would fit me, so I unlocked the door and hurried to the room I was thinking of.

The house was already very dark, almost pitch black, but my eyes had adjusted somewhat so I could see enough to maneuver around. I would have to try to find a flashlight or something later, but I needed clothes first.

Four minutes later, I was in a pair of faded blue jeans and a dark green sweater. The sweater was extremely soft, so I didn’t bother finding an undershirt to go with it.

I made my way back to the kitchen and began going through drawers. Somehow, the first drawer I opened had a flashlight in it. I flicked it on, almost blinded by the sudden light, but my eyes adjusted and I had a proper look around the kitchen.

After grabbing a few useful items and some food, I locked myself back into the bathroom. That was where I primarily stayed for three days; I only came out to watch the hotel when I heard Tallahassee come out.

He was always shouting ridiculously loud, screaming and daring the zombies to come kill him, and then he would get in the caddie and drive away. Almost like clockwork, by dusk he would be back, bloodied and exhausted, though still screaming mad at the world, and it tore me up watching his condition worsen like it was but I couldn’t do anything for him in my own state.

On the third morning, I woke up to find my bite was actually healing. The colors were gone from it and my veins had returned to normal; that was when I remembered the first zombie I had encountered.

406.  She had been bitten by a homeless man and then come to me for shelter; it had only taken a few hours for her to turn. It’s been three days and I hadn’t changed at all.

I hadn’t turned and it was healing. I couldn’t figure how that was possible, the only conclusion I kept coming back to was that I must be immune. Nothing else could allow for what was currently happening.

I decided that I could safely go back to Tal, sure that I was immune. My body had defeated the virus I guess, so I wouldn’t turn.

I looked out the little window over the shower; it was approximately seven am. I quickly stood and exited the house that I had called home for a few days and looked at the hotel. The caddie was there, as was Tal, he looked like he was doing something at the back of the caddie.

I hurried across the street, but stopped fifty feet back, suddenly unsure of what I was going to say to him. He probably thought I was dead or worse a zombie, so he might try to kill me.

I hesitated a moment longer, but Tal suddenly whirled around to face me, wielding a knife, an Oversized Battle Bowie Knife to be exact. Tal froze when he saw me standing there.

For several moments, it looked as if his brain had just shut off, but then the knife in his hand clattered to the ground and he fell to his knees. I took a few tentative steps toward him before I noticed that his eyes where closed but were moist around them. Was that tears?

I hurried over and knelt down in front of him but refrained from actually touching him. His face looked sunken in; he obviously hasn’t been sleeping or eating.

“Tal?” I whispered. Tal’s breath hitched in his throat as he whimpered,

“Fuck, a hallucination, that’s all you are, a hallucination.” I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see the action,

“No, I’m alive; I’m immune to the virus. I’m fine.” Tal’s eyes slowly cracked open, revealing tired and red eyes. They focused on my face, searching it, as if looking for a flaw to prove to himself that I was a figment of his imagination. After several moments, he whispered,

“Columbus?” I nodded slowly, my own breath caught in my throat, holding back my words. Tallahassee stumbled to his feet and backed up a step, saying,

“But, but, how are you here? I saw you dead on the floor! You weren’t breathing!” I stood up as well, saying,

“Well, I must have been because I’m still alive and human.” Tal kept a little distance between us, five feet or so, as he slowly began to accept the fact that it was indeed me standing in front of him.

“What about the bite? You were bit, how aren’t you a rotting, flesh-eater by now?

“I’m not sure, but I must be immune or something like that. I’ve already thought long and hard about it, that’s the only logical answer I could come up with.

“Another thing I had noticed was the strange behaviors of the zombie’s that attacked us. They showed the same signs of pack behavior as the first one, but these were even stranger. They completely ignored you to go after me.” I turned away from him slightly, looking at the ground as I thought out loud,

“Although, I don’t know what they did after I passed out, so there might be a factor in there that I’m missing. The very fact that I was even still alive after I passed out is strange in and of itself. They should’ve been eating me, but I only got one bite and that didn’t tear away anything.

“We really need to figure out what is going on with these zombies. What’s causing them to act like this? I don’t really even know how we’re go-“ Tal stepped up to me and cut off my words with his lips against mine.

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I didn’t resist the movement although I was surprised by the kiss itself. I know what I feel, but I didn’t know if it was reciprocated so I hadn’t wanted to say anything; I guess this answered my question.

Tal pulled back a moment later, saying softly,

“You’re defiantly Columbus; you’re the only person I’ve ever known who will ramble like that about what you were talking about.” The corner of my mouth tugged upward as I replied,

“Well, I just like to think out loud, that way I can filter as I go.” Tal put his free hand on my cheek, saying,

“Yeah, I’ve kinda noticed that.” I leaned up into him, returning the kiss, which he readily accepted.

Finnegan barked and jumped down from the back of the caddie and jumped up at me, breaking our contact. He almost pushed me completely over, but I caught myself and rubbed his head,

“Hey, Fin! Nice to see you again too!” Fin licked happily at my hands as I tried to pet him. I looked up at Tal, who was leaning against the side of the caddie, his knees were quivering.

“When was the last time you slept?” I asked. Tal glanced over at me before looking at the ground again,

“For more than an hour? Not since you left.” I took a deep breath before I asked,

“What about food?”

“Just a couple bites, here and there.” A muscle in my jaw twitched. I drew myself up to my full height, which is still shorter than his, saying,

“Come on, let’s get upstairs. You need to sleep.” I saw his mouth move in protest, so I cut him off, saying, “No arguing. Go, now.” I gave him a light push on the shoulder, getting him moving before I closed the back of the caddie.

I followed after him, putting a hand on his lower back; he looked like he was about to topple over at any moment. Fin ran ahead of us and waited for us patiently at the door.

I immediately had him lay down on his bed, saying,

“Stay there, I’ll get you some water.” After giving him a stern look to communicate that I was serious, I walked over to his duffle, which was sitting in the same location as it had when I was here last, on the low dresser.

I pulled out a water bottle and walked back over to him. I unscrewed the cap and handed it to him, which he accepted and took a drink from.

After a few more sips, I took the bottle back, replaced the cap, and set it on the nightstand, saying,

“Now get some rest.” Tal nodded, saying,

“Thanks.” I nodded in acknowledgement as he closed his eyes and set his head back against the pillow.

Satisfied that he wasn’t going to move, I laid on my own bed, just staring at the ceiling for a little while until I heard Tal’s breathing even out and eventually soft snores came. I turned my head to look at him.

He was exhausted; his body was stretched thin, trying to maintain him. He hadn’t been eating or sleeping, constantly on the move, and it was my fault. If those zombies hadn’t got me, then Tallahassee would be his normal, snide remark making self.

I returned my gaze to the ceiling, but rubbed the heels of my palms into my eyes, as if trying to clear away the memories. I glared softly at the ceiling tiles for several minutes, but was interrupted by Finnegan jumping up onto my bed.

I rubbed his head after he curled up against my side, huffing contently. Maybe, just maybe everything would be okay now. I was back and Tal seems to want to live again. I closed my eyes and dwelled on that thought until the blackness of sleep overcame me.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter for this story, thank you all so much for reading and I hope that you loved it!

I awoke to a dull burning sensation in my wrist, the same one that had been chomped on. I groaned as I opened my eyes to a sun lit room. I turned my head to find that Tal was still asleep but Fin wasn’t beside me anymore, he was curled up next to Tallahassee, but his eyes were open and he was watching me.

I looked down at my wrist to find that the bite itself was looking a little redder than it had the night before. It didn’t look anywhere near as bad as it had the first few days after getting it, but it was changing again.

I slowly turned my wrist over, getting a look at the entire bite, it was all getting red again. I gingerly touched it, but it shot a white hot pain up my arm; I wouldn’t be doing that again anytime soon.

Once again, I looked over at Tal, who hadn’t stirred, but Fin’s head was slightly raised off his paws. I swear I saw his lip twitch, but I may have imagined it; the look I didn’t imagine was his glare, who knew dogs could glare, mhmm? Fin could though and it was making me fidget, so I sat up, earning myself a bared k-9.

I paused and looked at Fin, who suddenly gave a low, rumbling growl. What had gotten into him? His hackles were even beginning to rise a bit.

I stood, tugging on the sleeve of my sweater, covering the bite altogether. Fin’s whole body went rigid as he half-stood up, growling louder.

Tallahassee stirred at the sound; he turned over and put a hand on Finnegan’s back while looking at me. He cocked an eyebrow and asked,

“What’s up? Why’s Fin acting weird?” I shrugged and walked over to the window, which was obscured by the curtain. I don’t really know why I walked over to it, I just felt like it was something that I needed to do.

I nudged the curtain to the side to come face-to-face with a zombie. I shrieked a little as I jumped back from the gore covered face, only to trip and fall on my butt. I never once took my eyes off the zombie, even as Tal jumped out of bed and dropped to my side, asking if I was okay.

His words barely registered in my mind as I looked at the zombie on the other side of the window. He stood still, not moving or blinking; he just stood there, staring into the room. I felt a strange pull towards him, wanting nothing more than to walk out the door and,

“COLUMBUS!” Tallahassee’s scream and hand on my shoulder stopped my thought process as well as my movement. Somehow, I was standing at the door, hand on the knob which I had already half turned. I blinked a few times before I pulled my hand away from the knob as if it was hot.

“Columbus?” Tal asked softly this time, hand still on my shoulder. I half cocked my head as I stared at the ground, trying to figure out what had just happened.

“I, I don’t know.” Tal reached around me to grip my other shoulder and turn my body towards him so that he could look into my eyes.

“Are you okay?” I slowly shook my head, thinking for an answer. I got frustrated as my eyes misted over, saying,

“I don’t know! Something is happening to me!” Tal’s hands tightened and his lips where pressed into a thin line, but he didn’t say anything, allowing me to continue, “I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I’m feeling a strange pull to go to him.” I gestured over my shoulder at the zombie who had yet to so much as move a muscle. Tal looked confused, saying,

“What do you mean by go to him?” I couldn’t really meet his eyes, seeing how I didn’t really even know what I was talking about and knew that it sounded like I was going insane.

“I’m not sure, all I know is that I want to walk out that door and go to him. I don’t know why.” We both mulled that over for a few moments, when Tal got a look in his eye like he had an idea, whether or not it was a good idea is any mans guess.

“Stay here, let me look at something real quick.” Tal let go of my shoulders, taking away the comfort they had given me. Tal walked over to the window and pushed the curtain further aside so that he could see more outside. He looked around, as if searching for something, but my mind was wandering again, not thinking about him anymore.

I was thinking about that zombie again, it was like he was calling out to me to come to him, not verbally or anything like that, but mentally. It was subconscious, like how when children are playing in a park with no fences, they tend to stay together, grouping as one. I can’t really explain it.

Before I knew it, the sun’s rays were warming up my face in the crisp morning air. The zombie had turned toward me but had made no other moves as I took slow steps toward it. I thought I heard Tal saying my name, but I didn’t react to him if he had, I was solely focused on the zombie.

I quite suddenly felt a burning sensation in the back of my throat, so I growled a bit, trying to clear it, but just as I made a sound, the zombie took a step back. I paused and cocked my head to the side before growling again, louder this time. The zombie cowered backwards.

It was afraid of me. The tiniest inkling in the back of my mind told me to say something to him, but what came out of my lips wasn’t any human language that I had ever heard before, it was a series of growls, grunts, and other odd noises.

“ _What are you doing here?_ ” The zombie didn’t look up at me, nor did it respond, but I _felt_ as if it gave me an answer. He gave me the impression that he was looking for me.

“ _Why were you looking for me?_ ” I asked and again he didn’t respond physically, but the bite on my wrist flared in pain, and that was when I finally recognized him. He was the one who bit me, I had smashed his face, but I guess I hadn’t finished the job.

The zombie finally looked up at me with its dead, cold eyes, but a spark was present that I had never noticed before, as he grunted,

“ _Master._ ” That was the last thing he said though as Tallahassee pumped a round into his skull, effectively snapping me out of my daze. Suddenly, I felt lightheaded and my knees felt weak. I sank to the ground, but Tal caught me before I hit, saying,

“What the fuck was that?!” Tal asked, none to gently. “Were you talking to that thing?!” My eyes rolled around in my skull, behind closed eye lids as my head swam.

After a few moments, my throbbing head finally eased and I responded with,

“I’m not sure, yes… he called me his master.”

“Mas- never mind,” he gave an exasperated sigh before continuing, “What the fuck is going on here?!” I shook my head gently, not wanting to start up another headache as I opened my eyes saying,

“I don’t know.” I closed my eyes again, something felt different. I focused on the feeling, trying to pinpoint it, and then I felt it throb. I was feeling the presence of zombies again, pulling at my mind.

I stood up stiffly, brushing off Tallahassee’s hands and began walking toward them. I could hear Tal’s calls, but it’s like I had tunnel vision and can only see, or in this case feel, the zombies. I had to find them; they were calling out to me.

They were around the far side of the building and they were coming to me at the same rate that I was going towards them. It felt like there was anywhere between five and ten of them, their minds were jumbled up together so it was hard to get an exact number.

The next thing I realized was the group of nine zombies standing in front of me, they were all saying the same thing,

“ _Master. Master._ ”

“ _Why am I Master?_ ” I asked. They all responded the same and in tandem,

“ _You are Master._ ” Even though it wasn’t an answer, I moved on,

“ _Where did you come –_ “ I cut of as something touched my shoulder, I jumped away, hissing. It took a few moments for my brain to register that it was just Tallahassee; in those seconds, the zombies behind me had rushed forward, almost roaring, to separate Tal from me. They thought he was a threat to me.

“ _Stop!_ ” I yelled at them, they instantly obeyed and wandered back to me, still keeping themselves between us, but weren’t a threat to Tal anymore.

Tal was saying something, but I didn’t hear what it was, I was talking to the group,

“ _Never do that again. He’s not a threat._ ” I could feel that they were regretful and sorry, so I added, “ _It’s okay, just don’t do it again._ ”

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, it was Tallahassee raising his shotgun.

“NO!” I screamed, but it was too late, he had already fired the gun. My vision went red and I barely registered the movement until after the fact. I had Tallahassee pinned to the ground, crouched over him, half-hissing and half-snarling in his face. The zombies behind me roared and screamed at Tallahassee, but didn’t move forward and interfere with me.

I pushed roughly off him and went to the fallen zombies’ side in one smooth movement, it was too late though, it was a clean head shot; the zombie had died instantly. I eased up from the dead and turned slowly to face Tallahassee who had stood and was backing away.

“Don’t you _ever_ do that again.” I said slowly, the threat in my tone was clear. My zombies milled around behind me, waiting for me to tell them to attack; they pushed at my mind, begging for me to give them the order.

“Columbus.” His voice was pleading and managed to snap me out of my weird funk. My vision returned to normal and my rage and hatred diminished a bit, but the feeling of loss was still there.

I turned my back to Tallahassee and addressed my group, saying,

“ _I’m sorry for his behavior, I will make sure it won’t happen again. You are still not allowed to attack him unless I give the order._ ”

“ _Yes, Master._ ” Came the unanimous response. I turned back to Tallahassee, a deep seated anger was still brewing in my chest; honestly, it physically hurt which put me in a worse mood.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I asked, trying my best to hold back my anger. He kept his face almost unreadable, lips pressed into a thin line. He wouldn’t meet my eyes as he said,

“I was about to ask you the same thing.” My lip raised slightly in a silent snarl, saying,

“You killed one of my group.” He finally met my eyes, fury blazed there,

“ _Your_ group?! What the fuck are you talking about?! “ I matched his voice, shouting back,

“I don’t know!! But they’re under my protection now, you can’t touch any of them!!” Tallahassee snapped back sarcastically,

“Oh, that’s right, I forgot. Silly me, you’re their _master,_ right?”

“As a matter of fact, yes! And just a quick FYI, they want me to let them kill you.  Don’t touch them and I won’t let them touch you.” I’m royally pissed now.

“Am I supposed to thank you for that?” He asked as he crossed his arms across his chest, standing up straighter. I growled,

“Stop being a dick, Tallahassee, before you force my hand.” He quirked an eyebrow at me,

“Oh, that’s fresh coming from your scrawny ass.” I finally snapped; red filled my vision again and an instinct took over my body that’s not my own. I had Tallahassee pinned again, but this time, I was shoving his face into the concrete, roaring in his ear, finger nails digging into the back of his neck.

My zombies roared with me, but stayed back obediently. Tallahassee bucked, knocking my grip loose; he spun around onto his back and punched me across the face, sending me reeling to the side. I didn’t fall though, my instinct kept me on my feet and even got me moving again. I leapt through the air at him, hitting him square in the chest with my full weight and momentum.

He stumbled backward as I spun around to his back and wound an arm around his neck. I kicked out his legs, dropping him to his knees; I stood on his ankles, arm still about his neck. I gripped my left wrist, the one around his neck, with my right hand, effectively putting him in a headlock.

He scrabbled at my arms, but my arms held fast like steel bars even has he choked for breath. I leaned down to his ear and hissed,

“Leave us alone or the next time we meet I won’t be so civil.” I spit out the word civil as if it had burned my tongue by just saying it.

After letting his choke and gasp for air a few moments, I let him go roughly, throwing him onto the ground where he gasped for a breath. I stepped off his ankles and crouched beside his head, turning my face to be in line with his before I said,

“Goodbye, Tallahassee.” With that, I stood and walked back to my group and lead them away quietly enough to hear a soft whimper behind us of,

“Columbus.” I didn’t bother to turn around, I could hear the sadness and strain in his voice; honestly, though, I literally couldn’t care less about Tallahassee.


End file.
